Opinion Contributor

This is the speech we’ve been waiting for

The author says it's a profound moment, not only for African-Americans, but for the nation. | AP Photo

By ANTHEA BUTLER | 7/19/13 6:19 PM EDT

President Obama’s surprise remarks Friday about Trayvon Martin, race in America and the Zimmerman trial will be remembered far longer than his “race” speech in March 2008 in Philadelphia.

That speech, entitled “A More Perfect Union,” was then-candidate Obama’s way of giving a broader perspective to the uproar surrounding his former pastor, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and his infamous “God Damn America” sermon. That address was designed to tamp down anger, and bring his constituencies together, and — most important of all — keep his lead in the Democratic primary. This speech was different: far more personal, far more raw, and ultimately, far more resonant.

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Obama’s full remarks

Until today, the president had said remarkably little about race – his commentary on the matter had mainly come in the form of off-the-cuff comments or the “Beer Summit” with Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates. But the latter was a political bust, and since then, the president has been extremely risk-averse in addressing the issue — so much so that he has arguably mentioned race the least of any Democratic president in memory.

Why weigh in now, then? Obama’s remarks, in which he again invoked the phrase “a more perfect union,” are an obvious recognition of the anger, hurt, and dismay felt by many in the African-American community and beyond about the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. Even a few days late, the president’s comments are as a much-appreciated coda to the 2008 race speech, especially since he acknowledged that we are not in a “post-racial” society – an observation that will certainly infuriate those who wished that many people would just stop talking about race, because to talk about race is racist. That circular thinking is exactly why the president’s comments matter.

The president also placed the conversation about the trial into its larger context: the specific historical and structural present-day circumstances that underly persistent racial disparities in the United States. Explaining to Americans that the “African-American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away” was very, very powerful. It placed him squarely within the community, but also acknowledged a history that the entire nation must confront.

But perhaps the most moving parts of the president’s unscripted comments were those that came from a deeper place: within himself. To admit that he, too – a man who is now the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world — had been racially profiled in department stores was to link himself directly to a slain black teenager. “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” he said. And the president’s tone and manner suggested that, in the week since the Zimmerman verdict, he had felt the pain resonating throughout America.

Obama has often seemed ambivalent about his racial background. Connecting his experience of profiling to the experiences of millions of black men all over this country was an important moment. It linked the president firmly to the African-American experience. For many African-Americans, it said: He is one of us. And for a community that has had to watch the countless racially charged indignities Obama has been made to endure while in office, it was a gratifying moment.

It’s often forgotten now, but in his 2008 campaign, Obama called for federal legislation to stop racial profiling – an issue he championed as an Illinois state senator. Those of us who hope the president will take up that banner again were cheered by Friday’s speech.

Nor did the president ignore the tragedy of black-on-black crime. “This isn’t to say that the African American community is naïve about the fact that African-American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system; that they’re disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence,” he said.

As an historian, I am gratified that the president went on to acknowledge that the violence taking place in the black community comes from not only from a violent past, but a history of poverty and dysfunction – one that still reverberates today.

When the president speaks to the African-American community, we often hear some of the same themes about responsibility. Friday’s conversation had a different tone, however: This was about how to bolster and reinforce African-American boys. The fear of many black parents after the verdict was palpable, and it was refreshing to hear the president take a tone of consoler, not scold-in-chief.

This is a profound moment, not only for African-Americans, but for the nation. While the Zimmerman trial has exposed the deep divide between the left and the right, the aftermath has been brutal. Online and on cable news, this past week has felt like a race war with no end in sight — and it has been draining. Hearing the first African-American president clearly affirm our collective pain as African-Americans is a “balm in Gilead” that will help many.

“Along this long, difficult journey,” Obama concluded, “we’re becoming a more perfect union — not a perfect union, but a more perfect union.” There’s still a lot of work to do, Mr. President – but you took a big step in the right direction today.

Anthea Butler is associate professor of religion and graduate chair at the University of Pennsylvania. Follow her on Twitter @antheabutler.